My sister and her family live in a rural part of Western
Washington State. They have two six-month-old black labs: Olive and
Dozer have the perfect life of adventure, freedom and a family who
adores them. The brother sister doggie duo, play endlessly together:
wrestling, chasing each other and just being pups.

One evening my sister heard them cry in a very strange way.
She looked out the window and saw them struggling together. Her
first thought is that they had caught a small animal. She rushed out
to free the critter. On the way, their cries changed to those of
pain and total fear. She now thought a coyote or worse was attacking
the pups. When she reached the dogs, in the dark, the scene made no
sense. The dogs were in a screaming panic. Dozer was trying to get
away from Olive but couldn't, and Olive was foaming at the mouth and
on the verge of unconsciousness.

They had been wrestling and Dozer got a hold of Olive's
collar in his mouth. His lower jaw had become stuck under her collar
when she began twisting to get away from him. With every turn,
Olives collar became as tight as a tourniquet with Dozer's jaw
trapped in it. The dogs were frantic. Olive passed out from lack of
oxygen. Dozer went down too because his jaw was trapped in Olives'
collar.

My sister's husband arrived to help but could not get a knife
under the twisted collar to cut Olive free. Finally they figured the
only way was to grab the unconscious Olive and literally un-twist
her. They figured she was dead by now. With some heavy lifting and
spinning they were able to create enough slack in her collar to cut
it off. Dozer was free and the unconscious Olive, thankfully came
around in time.

Needless to say, everyone was traumatized. This is an example
of the dangers of buckle collars. This would not have happen with
the quick release collars now on the market. They have a "seat belt"
like latch, which can easily release if the animal gets hung up. My
sister's vet said they were very lucky as numerous pets AND CHILDREN
are seriously injured by buckle collars with no safety
release.

Please be aware of the dangers of using a buckle collar on
your pet. Consider the use of a quick release collar for the safety
of your companion. Don't let this happen to you.